Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Siobhan
I decide to eat first so Jayce doesn’t have an aneurism, and after a solid brunch of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, I take my phone into the reading room to figure out next steps. Hayden follows, and I glance at him.
“Do you want us to leave?” they ask.
My heart jumps and my omega tries to whine. I swallow hard and frown, pushing down the reaction, and grab one of my tarot decks on my way to the couch. Then I shake my head. “No, I don’t want you to go, but if you need to get to work or whatever, I understand.”
“I called out for the entire week. I’d love to stay.”
I nod and sink into the fluffy cushions.
Jayce stalks into the room after us with a bowl of fruit and glass of water—which he places on the coffee table in front of me—then he plops into an armchair.
Aury strides in too, hands in his pockets, casually perusing my shelves, and to my delight, Bunny streaks in after him.
“Bunny!”
She leaps into my lap and starts making biscuits while Hayden lowers down next to me, then shifts both of us so I’m leaning against them. I grumble under my breath, but allow it. I can sense their smirk, and I narrow my eyes, glaring at my phone even though they can’t see my face.
“Thank you, little witch,” Hayden murmurs into my ear.
I tilt my head in question.
“For letting me hold you.”
My cheeks heat and I melt into them, then get to work.
I take a deep, slow breath, and focus on my current situation with Helen.
I ask the Moon Goddess and Mother Earth for guidance, for reminders, for stability and peace.
Then shuffle the black and gold deck until a card flies out at me, and I let my eyes fall closed for a brief moment before turning it over to look at it.
A dark night sky full of stars and a glowing moon. It hovers over a path leading to a river with two dogs flanking it, looking up into the sparkling sky.
The Moon.
Uncertainty and illusion. Take care with making decisions, because you may not have all the information. Proceed with caution. Follow your intuition.
I normally associate The Moon card with more femininity and wisdom, internal guidance, but the feeling I get from it this time is more in line with the traditional interpretation—which reaffirms my suspicions regarding Helen’s intentions.
I hum, taking the card in and letting my thoughts turn inward, exploring where my intuition is leading me.
Aury keeps glancing at me from the corner of his eye as he slowly makes his way along my bookshelves.
Meanwhile, Jayce’s eyes have been locked on me since he entered the room.
I ignore them both, letting Hayden’s warmth seep into me as I breathe.
Opening my phone, I type up a message to Helen. Then I wave Aury over and pass the phone to him. “What do you think?”
His eyes skim over the lines, and he nods, thoughtful, gaze unfocused while he passes it back to me. “Yeah… I think that’s good. Direct, polite, to the point but not rude. Not overly friendly either, which I think is a good choice.”
I offer a small smile in thanks, then copy-paste it from my notes app into a new message and hit send.
Me: Hi Helen, I hope you’re doing well. I’ve seen the attention your collab idea has been getting, and I wanted to reach out to you to see what your thoughts were.
Do you have a suggestion or plan of what you’d like to do if we proceed with a collab?
I am located a couple hours outside of Traverse City, so I could meet around there if that’s convenient for you, but I’d like a more clear picture of what content you’d like to aim for before committing to anything. Thanks and talk soon! Siobhan
The message is marked as read immediately, and three dots pop up as Helen types a reply. I focus on my breathing as I wait.
Helen: I want to shoot a couple videos, perhaps at the next full moon. You can do a tarot reading and based on what it says, I’ll do an incantation or spell jar. Bring your crystals too, we can include those. I can do runes. Make sure we get some varied content to post.
“Okay, well that’s not quite the friendly, eager puppy dog vibes she puts into her videos. Am I reading this wrong, or is this message kind of…?” I trail off, not sure what to call it, and hold my phone up for Hayden to read while Aury leans over the back of the couch.
“Don’t love that,” Aury comments, and Hayden ‘hmm’s in agreement.
“Sooooo not just me, then?”
“Not you, Moonbeam,” Aury says as he straightens. “Either she has terrible social skills or she doesn’t care to be polite or friendly.”
I bite my lip as I figure out how to reply. The next full moon is in about a week, so we’d need to act fast to get this pulled together in time.
Me: That works for me. Do you have a location in mind? I don’t mind bringing a couple decks and some crystals, we can see what the Moon pulls us towards when we get there.
Helen: I’ll finalize the details and send it to you. You should post a reply vid to build on the hype tho, since you haven’t yet.
I huff, irritated already with her attitude, and I wonder if others have had a similar experience with her.
I click onto her profile, then scroll until I find a couple other collaborations she’s done in the last few months.
I send a message to two of the other creators, hoping to get more insight so I can prepare for whatever I might be walking into.
While I’m waiting to hear back from them, I glance up to see Jayce still staring at me.
His eyes flick to the glass of water on the table, and I purse my lips, giving him a flat expression.
He shifts in his seat uncomfortably, then averts his gaze when he suddenly finds the vintage chandelier incredibly interesting.
I huff, then take a quick drink of water, because I was getting thirsty. I ignore it when one corner of Jayce’s mouth twitches up.